Manchester United's summer of discontent fed on by Seagulls

Matt Jones 16:05 20/08/2018
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  • A difficult few weeks for Manchester United took a turn for the worse on Sunday when they were beaten 3-2 at Brighton in the Premier League.

    Manager Jose Mourinho has cut a frustrated figure as his team have laboured through pre-season and the opening weeks of the new campaign.

    A rousing 2-1 win to open the campaign at home to Leicester was completely undone by the woeful nature of their defeat at the Amex Stadium on Sunday.

    Here, we take a look at a summer of discontent at Old Trafford.

    WINDOW WOES

    HarryMaguire

    Mourinho had hoped to strengthen his squad significantly during the summer transfer window, but it ended without the arrival of the commanding defender he had wanted.

    Despite being linked with the likes of Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Jerome Boateng, Diego Godin and Yerry Mina, United added only Fred, Diogo Dalot and Lee Grant to the mix.

    Speculation persists that relations between Mourinho and the club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward are strained.

    WORLD CUP WAIT

     Lingard

    The manager was less than impressed after having to start pre-season without some of his biggest names after France, England and Belgium enjoyed extended stays at the World Cup finals and severely depleted his resources.

    Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Phil Jones and Marcus Rashford were all missing, although most answered Mourinho’s call to cut short their post-tournament breaks.

    MARTIAL WAR?

     Anthony Martial 3

    Anthony Martial found himself in the firing line after leaving the club’s US tour to attend the birth of his second child.

    Mourinho made little secret of his displeasure at the Frenchman’s failure to return to the fold as quickly as he had expected, but 22-year-old Martial insisted his family would always come first.

    He started against Brighton but had little impact and was, predictably, one of the players to make way in the second half.

    THE PROBLEM WITH POGBA

     0720 Pogba Barcelona

    Paul Pogba has been something of an enigma since his club record £89million switch from Juventus in August 2016. His form on the pitch has been patchy to say the least, and rumours of a fractious relationship with his manager have refused to go away.

    Pogba did little to stem the speculation when he replied “There are things that I cannot say otherwise I will get fined” when asked if he was happy at Old Trafford following a swashbuckling display against Leicester, including opening the scoring with a brilliant penalty.

    Mourinho, who has made the Frenchman his captain, has repeatedly insisted there is no issue.

    PITCH BATTLE

     ManchesterUnitedBrighton (1)

    If things have been tetchy off the field, they have been little more relaxed on it. United stuttered through pre-season as they lost to Liverpool and Bayern Munich, earning a 2-1 win over Real Madrid, although it was Los Blancos’ maiden match of the summer.

    They started brightly and ultimately got the victory in the 2-1 victory over Leicester in their Premier League opener. However, they turned in a dreadful display to go down 3-2 at Brighton on Sunday with the scoreline flattering them somewhat as Pogba’s penalty with seconds remaining put a little more gloss on the scoreline than they deserved.

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